5 botched moves John Lynch, 49ers made over course of 2021

No. 1: 49ers relied too heavily on Jason Verrett, didn’t address cornerback enough

In the spring of 2021, San Francisco was already bidding farewell to veteran cornerback Richard Sherman and was going to enter the year with Jason Verrett and Emmanuel Moseley on the boundary.

Verrett, who stayed healthy for almost all of 2020 and performed admirably, nevertheless appeared in just six regular-season games between 2016 and 2019 amid a rash of serious injuries that nearly ended his career.

Banking on Verrett to stay healthy for yet another full season was a longshot, and it turns out the 49ers would be burned by that decision when Verrett suffered a season-ending ACL tear in Week 1.

True, the 49ers brought aboard two rookie corners via last year’s draft, Ambry Thomas in Round 3 and Deommodore Lenoir in Round 5. Thomas struggled initially, likely because he opted out of his 2020 campaign at Michigan, but his ability to progress with each passing week once he was starting late in the season suggests him getting more field time early might have been the smarter move.

At least no worse than what Josh Norman or another corner only on the roster for a short while, Dre Kirkpatrick, would have offered.

At any rate, John Lynch and Co. should have spent more effort reinforcing the secondary and doing so much earlier than they did. Perhaps wishing they grabbed now-Los Angeles Chargers cornerback Asante Samuel Jr. instead of the Aaron Banks selection in Round 2.